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Sunday, 28 October 2012

November – you’ll be burning all that old rubbish
at bonfire night. Lucky we never get any old rubbish at Seven Jazz, just
the best music! We hope you enjoyed our October presentations –
highlights were the award winning Liane Carroll at her very best – a
concert full of new tunes and old jokes, Katie Patterson’s new Big Band
and their driving take on music of Steely Dan, and finally the
inimitable John Taylor on solo piano in our Leeds celebration of his 70th birthday. If you’ve missed any gigs then you might find a catch up video clip or two on our You Tube site here http://www.youtube.com/user/stevecrocker1?feature=mhee. October
was a sad month as well in that it saw the passing of our great
supporter Colin Watson – we remembered him with a lovely afternoon and
evening of jazz music at Seven Arts on 24th October. He’ll be remembered fondly by all of us.

So
what’s happening in November? It is shaping up to be a superb month
jazz wise, with some of the big names in jazz appearing both at Seven
Arts and at other venues in Leeds. Let’s start with a treat for all
lovers of swing and big band jazz with the appearance at Seven Arts of
astonishing multi-instrumentalist Al Woods and his nine piece band.

Al
is at home as much on alto and baritone saxophones as the trombone and
trumpet. He was a member of the Maynard Ferguson Big Band, apparently
the only musician to have played every "chair" in the band. He was also
until recently deputy head of jazz performance at Leeds College of Music
and is a nationally respected big band leader. His nine piece band has a
dream line up of some of the best mainstream and bop players in the
Yorkshire region

Only £5/4 concessions, kids under 16 free, doors open at 1pm, music 1.30-4pm at Seven Arts, Chapel Allerton!

Welcome
return from US based tenor sax star Benn Clatworthy, a former member of
the Horace Silver band, and musical associate of Cedar Walton, Lionel
Hampton, Jimmy Cleveland, and many other jazz greats. Benn is appearing
at Seven Arts along with lyrical jazz pianist John Donaldson, in-demand
bass player Simon Thorpe and rising London based jazz star drummer Josh
Morrison who is making his first appearance with us.

£15/12 concessions, kids under 16 free, doors open at 8pm, music 8.30-11pmat Seven Arts, Chapel Allerton, tel 0113 26 26 777; full time student standby £5 on the door only

Leeds
based Kevin Holbrough is a busy freelance trombonist, session musician
and educator. His quintet features some of the finest talent in the
local jazz scene – a welcome return of a very talented musician.. They
will be performing original compositions and music that are influenced
by Benny Golson, Curtis Fuller, JJ Johnson through to the contemporary
sounds of New York sextet “One for All” and Steve Davis

Allsorts
band fuses jazz, rock and neo soul - a mixture of original music and
arrangements of tunes by others. They get great responses from their
audiences. Katie Patterson is a freelance drummer/composer/teacher based
in Leeds, England. Most recently, she received the Jazz Yorkshire Young
Musician of the Year Award for 2012. She graduated from Leeds College
of Music in 2011. Her recent Big Band performance at Seven Arts was sold
out, so get there early and get a band apron!

This
is the first of two evening concerts to mark our fifth birthday. We
have commissioned young Leeds based trumpeter Kim Macari to write some
new music for the occasion. Kim is the band's director and composer,
and she has a keen melodic sense, and a clever way of writing accessible
jazz scores with a modern twist. One of the sets will be some jazz
compositions we have commissioned from Kim - there will also be music
from jazz composers like Maria Schneider, Michael Brecker and Charles
Mingus. As it is our fifth birthday we will be having a bigger funnier
raffle an exhibition of the photos of Seven Jazz gigs taken by our
photographer Tom Swire and some music from the Seven Jazz workshop group

£12/10
concessions, kids under 16 free, doors open at 8pm, music 8.30-11pm at
Seven Arts, Chapel Allerton tel 0113 26 26 777; full time student
standby £5 on the door only

Friday evening 23 November 8pm: Gary Smulyan and Yorkshire Jazz Orchestra - an international celebration of the music of Pepper Adams

Our
second concert to celebrate our fifth birthday is one of an
international series features US baritone saxophonist Gary Smulyan,
onetime member of the Thad Jones- Mel Lewis orchestra. He will be the
soloist celebrating the music of the late Pepper Adams. The series of
concerts is taking place mainly in the U.S, including one with the
Vanguard Jazz Orchestra. The Seven Jazz concert is the only U.K.
contribution to this international celebration of Pepper Adam's music.
Gary Smulyan will be accompanied by Tony Faulkner’s Yorkshire Jazz
Orchestra and performing Tony’s arrangements written specially for the
series.

£15/12 concessions, kids
under 16 free, doors open at 8pm, music 8.30-11pm at Seven Arts, Chapel
Allerton, tel 0113 26 26 777; full time student standby £5 on the door
only

Sunday afternoon 25 November: Autumn 2012 Seven Jazz cafe

You
can bring your band, your voice or your instrument or just come to be
entertained. These are always relaxed and always good fun - we have a
rhythm section who will accompany those who need one so don't forget to
bring some music or lead sheets, with Al Macsween on keyboards. The
Seven Jazz workshop band will play a few tunes they have been practicing
and our new jazz choir will get it’s first musical engagement. Chapel
Allerton's got talent!

Our Autumn 2012 Saturday jazz workshop series continue at Seven Arts on the following dates

Saturday 3 November 2.30-4.30pm

Saturday 17 November 2.30-4.30pm

Saturday 24 November 2.30-4.30pm

This autumn the theme is the British songbook. They’ve been learning the music of Duncan Lamont and Lennon and McCartney +
Limehouse Blues! Come and join the fun – all welcome. Cost £8/6
concessions per session. For further information & bookings contact
Jean Watson by email at jeanwatsonlifeskills@hotmail.com or phone her on 0113 237 0700.

Why
not come and try out our new Jazz Voices choir an eclectic mix of jazz,
pop, gospel and blues run by our good friend and star jazz vocalist
Nicki Allan?

Monday 28 October 7-9pm

Monday 12 November 7-9pm

Lots of fun, no experience necessary, just a love of singing and jazz. To sign up contact us via jeanwatsonlifeskills@hotmail.com or phone 0113 237 0700 or come along! Just £5 per session

For all details of all our events and latest news updates see us on www.sevenjazz.co.uk, follow us on Twitter or befriend us on facebook. Look forward to seeing you soon at Seven Arts, Chapel Allerton, 31 Harrogate Road, Leeds LS3 3PD

Other Leeds gigs in November

Lots of other good gigs happening in Leeds in November at other places - here are some we’d recommend…

The
busiest evening definitely will be Tuesday 13 November in Leeds when US
veteran saxman Charles McPherson plays the Leeds Venue, fellow US
saxman Jerry Bergonzi is on down the road at the Sela Bar and hip US
band Snarky Puppy play next door at the Wardrobe. Jazz marathon anyone?
Leeds Assembly Rooms promote drummer Tommy Evans “Green Seagull” suite
on Saturday 10 November and Jack DeJohnette/Don Byron on 14th November.
Finally Leeds SELA bar completes the picture in Leeds with a couple more
headliners, Kit Downes’ Troyka on the 19 November and New York-based
saxophonist Will Vinson on the 26th Nov. Phew!

Bold and brash a play of conflicts and surprises with touches of humour and the spirit of war time, The Guinea Pig Club written by Susan Watkins lands at York Theatre Royal deftly directed by Damian Cruden and warmly received by Wednesdays audience.A thought provoking play which transports the audience back in time to world war two and the forgotten air force burn victims. Life for these burned and injured men is not pretty as social outcasts they feel they have nothing to lose and put their trust in McIndoe a consultant plastic surgeon. Tensions run high as McIndoe's methods bring conflict to staff and service men. In this moment life is in limbo and the men find ways to cope often with poignant humour which weaves through the play. The play opens as McIndoe explains his life and aspirations, played by Graham Hawley with swaggering arrogance as he takes control of the ward and the lives of people around him. Archibald McIndoe wins over the nurses and Graeme Hawley the audience in his performance as consultant. The service men are revealed in their beds in ward 111 and the head of a ventriloquist’s dummy peeping out of the covers sends a ripple of laughter throughout the audience. Tom the ventriloquist has his own way of coping with the ridicule of his situation. Played by George Ure self effacing, as Tom with complex emotions expressed through humour.Enter new patient Nick played wretched and defeated by Rollo Skinner, not wanting to live with disfigurement. Mutilated hands and face make him want to kill himself and reject his family. As the play progresses Nic accepts the treatment, and develops a relationship with nurse Alice Harwood played dutifully by Anna O Grady. The relationship grows in spite of Nick's alarming and realistic appearance, courtesy of Steve Outwaite (Prosthetics). Emotions run high when Nic learns that nurse Harwood was part of the treatment. Nic feels betrayed. He confronts McIndoe and tensions rise as a fight breaks out between them. Fellow patients stare in disbelief, their startled expressions picked out and frozen in the light, lighting designer Richard G Jones captures the scene to great effect. In a realistic scene choreographed by Liam Evans Ford, McIndoe is thrown to the ground raising a gasp from the audience. Moments later the flamboyant singer Frances Day played pouting and flamboyant by Sarah Applewood swept on to the stage all lipstick and silk, a vision of 1940’s loveliness and a perfect juxtaposition to the dreary ward as she sang fulsomely and resonant through powerful evocative wartime songs. The audience roared with laughter as Frances hopped across the stage singing the song ‘Run Rabbit’ Frances sang at each scene change bringing a feeling of wartime resistance, of spirits up in face of adversity. The choice of songs by musical director and arranger Christopher Madin, captured the character of the times and the live for today attitude of wartime Britain. Every so often through the play an aircraft rumbles overhead and bombs drop all around. Sound designer John Leonard impacts realism and reminds us of the war that brought these people together and shaped their lives. Bold and brash soft and touching the complexities of relationships under the shroud of war is explored. Susan Watkins steers us through the story showing us that the choices people make in life can take unexpected turns. This is a great play come and see it.Eve Winterburn

Friday, 5 October 2012

On the 4th October I attended the press launch of Centre Stage's search for a talented band to play at the Leeds and Reading Festival in 2013. We were entertained by last year's winners, Glassbody from Allerton Grange School and The Mexanines from the year before. Sarah Smith, the organiser, thanked both artists and then went on to say that the heats will be held at the wardrobe on the week commencing 22nd April 2013 and the final once again at the O2 Academy Leeds on 17th July. New this year is the on-line auction beginning at 7.30pm on the 5th October. There are over 40 donations from bands. One a day will be placed on e-bay and auctioned over 7 days.The list of items to be auctioned are:-1. The Cure - signed Leeds set list and Robert Smith signed vinyl.